A Multi-Fandom Series of The 1960's

One Step at A Time

Phew… I remember this being a pain in the hiney. Having to provide all of the Sir Simon Milligan & Manservant Hecubus’ cheering and applause. It’s so hard to believe how long I’ve been working on this thing and how marginal the (known) enthusiasm for it has been. That’s why I speculate The Powers The Be feeling perfectly swell that shy folks with a desire for better things and the creativity for change are sapped into not finding their people and content in the idea that like-clicks are the best form of support. I have to wonder about these things.

There is a gross amount of negativity, especially in the world of entertainment. Much that is entertainment now is practically free, but the kind that gets more attention is what we have to pay a lot for. That’s why I’d like to support what I do like. I was shocked the other day to go to IMDB for the 2010 Alice In Wonderland film and find a slew of angry messages beneath it. I had no idea that film had outraged anyone. One person asked, “Why is everyone hating so much?” The response came, “Because no one is satisfied with anything and that’s all people can do is hate on stuff.” Pretty much!

So I only post a few of my blog entries on to facebook to share. This one I have no plans to share anywhere but here. I asked the things that move me, “Willie’s coming back again. What are we going to do now?”

One scene per day. That is your only goal from now on. One scene a day. Which means today’s scene is Barnabas and Julia yelling at each other over why he loves Josette and how disgusted with himself as if to say, “Maggie Evans is Josette Dupres? Well, I feel like a big prig. She’ll never forgive me for all I’ve done to her, and I’m not going to forgive myself! Screw it! I’m throwing it all away.”

Then we’ve got Wadsworth and Willie, Then Josette and Andre as Maggie and Sam. I added more to that because I wanted it well understood that they both knew their own histories, recognizing, “You know, Barnabas really didn’t want to be such a crazy jerk. Someone we knew did him wrong, she did us wrong, she did everyone wrong, and that long a time cooped up could make any person batty.” Just addressing that there is more to it than Barnabas and Josette, there are reasons behind it. And that’s what I found in the people who finally came to me and saw that this was the crux of the puzzle. Why it was harped against by fans for so long is intensely sinister in scope, and many of the new official creations that came after Dark Shadows went off the air supporting that popularity against it, that creeps me out as well.

Next there is the scene with Caleb, Elizabeth and Lily, Stokes and Hoffman on the phone, Morticia and Victoria, and the wind up crazy car driving scene that gives it that climactic air. One scene a day if I can.

I got some more misconstruing on tumblr but at least the person responding was trying. There was a whole lot of anger spewing out which is odd because it was under the regard that I’m shoving stuff down people’s throat. Did freedom of choice lose out entirely? Why go hunting down things I’ve written and getting all bent out of shape about them? If someone wants to help, having a bitch-fest with others isn’t going to provide much. But it’s like I told her: I’m worried about lower comprehension in people. And the other creators have been far more understanding. They strive for details and we understand each other in that. One of my readers said, “I had no trouble at all with Margaret Josette Dupres. If something seemed off I would have told you.”

But why did I start any of this? The idea seems to be Barnabas/Josette for days. Well, folks responded to that material in droves so more came out. People don’t respond to the radio drama so much so less comes out. But why any of it? Not for Barnabas/Josette…

Sam Evans

And as seen on the left, why did Osheen begin her work? Bill Malloy. For me I wanted what it would be like for everything to work out and for Sam to remain, hearty and healthy. And I looked for what I wanted. No one had created it. Osheen looked for what she wanted. No one had created it. And she works in theatre too, channels Bill Malloy very well. From what I’ve seen gets everyone down fabulously. I hadn’t seen that in the fan work I’d combed through. Same with Magical Irish Dolphin. In ways she’s looking to improve things. I hadn’t seen that before either.

Helena signed on January 2013. Osheen has been there a long time but it was for other stories that did remarkably well in other fandoms. She didn’t start her Bill Malloy story until December 2013. Mad Margaret joined September of 2012. I showed up at the site February 2012, though I’d combed it longer. I also had a hard time reaching it with bad equipment and after all I’d combed through in feelings of further despair? I hardly was up for reading anything new! ecinspired “The Third Option” was a shock to find.

I’m hoping those radio stations air the program. Perhaps some already have. All I know is things are settling down. Some said they were too busy to send commentary due to the Summer time. Now? We have three holidays in a row coming up. Well, if they want more someday they can have it. I’ll focus on the radio stations.

Perhaps no one but me will enjoy more episodes from The Pit of Ultimate Dark Shadows. It looks as though everyone is content with 12 episodes and the post marriage novel and helping me out on facebook for more information in accuracy about the program. If a radio station gets enough call for it and reaches episode 12, I can mail them episode 13 and more. I think I’ve spent enough money, explained myself enough times very specifically, that a few people might get it.

But if they don’t?

Well, they keep saying, “Do it for you.”

In which case I will. There is no reason to give to an audience that won’t express what they want or like. I hear some good and some bad about the intros. But either way I don’t hear much.

“So, Daryl”, The Muse, finally says, “Do it for the characters and do it for yourself.”

“All right,” I tell her, “Sure… Which means there is no reason to share it, right?”

The Muse smiles at me, “No… no reason at all.” ^_^

One scene a day, then music and sound effects. Episode 13 of The Pit of Ultimate Dark Shadows will be finished, saved to various drives, burned to CDs and won’t be uploaded anywhere. Then I’ll work on Episodes 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 that I see vaguely in the distance one day with Sam driving out to the Stephens home since Captain Gregg’s attempt there didn’t go down so well.

A person who really loves my work gave up on Dark Shadows… I think it was that desire for an upswing that just never happened… We’re still friends, amazing friends, pen pals. She’ll still get the episodes when she wants them… by mail.

A helper of mine asked, “How could anyone give up on Dark Shadows?”

I answered, “Because they loved the characters and things kept getting worse for them. With some the conflict is all that matters. With others, such as myself, that longing extends to a creative force for change. As you may witness on some of these fanpages many try to sort out all of the problems, as human minds are developed to try. But Dark Shadows goes in so many directions a staggering array of preferences and opinions fly about, and much like debates in the political arena, ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ But those who give up had that longing to make a new fiction world that resolved things. The problem was, again, DS goes in so many directions. Me? I’d studied a million fandoms prior to Dark Shadows, and as a wee tom-boy I’d always wanted a story incorporating all of these spooky characters. The complexity of my life? It made it possible for me to absorb all the characters AND add more. (And this is likely why, at least for romantic pairings sake, I have had to hunt down the people who wanted my work. They weren’t coming to fanfiction.net. They’d given up a long time ago.)”

Also, you get to a point where you’re spending so much money and feeling worse you finally figure, “I think I’d rather have the money instead.”

For me? I’ll hopefully find some money somewhere after all of this since I’ve spent so much. But there is no reason to lose my life and that would likely happen if Willie Loomis comes back and gets more silence. I channeled him last October and he was angry right along with me, wildly angry. I cared about his needs and wants and we showed that together last October. So far as he and I could see, no one cared enough about that or either of us. So we found each other. We raved together. We are angry together, and by holding it all back from the creeping silent, we protect each other.

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2 thoughts on “One Step at A Time”

Hello again, Daryl — looks like you just can’t escape me today, I’m turning up like that bad penny all over the internet! Every now and then I do searches on “Bill Malloy Dark Shadows Fan Fiction,” and today this entry of your was one of the first things that came up. You know, sometimes reading/listening to your work and reading Magical Irish Dolphin’s, I feel a bit guilty because I’m not trying to fix things for all of the characters. In my case, it’s really only Bill & Liz who get the full benefit of a rescue-via-fanfiction in the portion of the DS storyline that is (probably!) all I’m going to write. However, in the story as I see it continuing, whether I’ll ever write it or not, Sam definitely does get saved — I just couldn’t see him still going blind and still dying in that horribly useless, ironic way, in a world in which Bill Malloy is still alive and still playing an active role in things. And I guess in my universe, Vicki is also tangentially given a happier fate. Since she doesn’t go to 1795 at all, clearly she doesn’t meet Peter Bradford, and thus she has no reason to go back in time with him and (possibly) come to an unfortunate, Leviathans-created end! Well, and Phyllis Wick gets saved, too … You know, in a way, you, and MID and me, and all of us who write fanfics attempting to change things that happened in the show, are following in the footsteps of Barnabas Collins! After all, he is the one who keeps going back in time for the purpose of changing things that he just cannot bear to accept — the death of Vicki when she returns to 1796, the death of David thanks to the Ghost of Quentin Collins, the destruction and deaths caused by the Ghost of Gerard Stiles in 1970. Fanfiction-writing is our version of the I Ching wands! I believe your muse has it right, in saying that you should do it for the characters and for yourself, but that there’s no harm in sharing it along the way. And there may not just be “no harm” in sharing, there may be a great deal of help, here and there, more than you may ever know. It’s worth doing and it’s worth sharing, and you never know who it’s going to help, just by the fact that it exists.

I still consider “Stand Fast…” to be somewhat of a fix-it story even if it’s not getting everyone a good wind-up. What I love in your work is going down and getting Bill’s take on everything. It’s very accurate! And I totally know what you mean about finding oneself in odd browsings. I’m getting scared because I search for images for all my fandoms, find myself and think, “AH! Who am I inviting? I just want to invite the helpers!”

Ah, yes. See! You are solving things in a lot of ways. I had a feeling you wouldn’t let Pop go. Mainly what the three of us are creating is Interruption, and I think that’s because we worked in other fandoms and many people who solely focus on Dark Shadows do Alternate Universe which my brain isn’t “down with”. So I can digest your work.

Oh, well, the reason I can’t share it until I get the dialogue is; I only ever posted it online to find that dialogue. I don’t really have many friends much less DS friends. I waited a long time before wondering about hits because I figured with all I saw it would take my-people a while to come back. A combination of channeling Willie Loomis, finding the traffic-graph, and seeing even more numbers and silence made me go stir-crazy. I’m protecting myself and Willie from that happening again for the time being. And… comedians don’t do well with silence. (I was listening to an interview of R.W. and shocked that in an instance he confessed to almost jumping off the stage and going after one guy, though that guy was just being rude.)

But with 12 Episodes for The Pit of Ultimate Dark Shadows, if we look at that from a U.K. standpoint, or even another country, that’s a full season. It’s chunky stuff, heck it’s still entertaining ME! So we all have a full season, and I have to get enough dialogue for that full season before the next. Otherwise I feel over-used and abused.

So now… I am sharing with the radio drama people, college radio, goths, creative types, anyone I could have missed. I’ve just got to get some chat. And then I can churn out MUCH MORE! ^_^

The Pit of Ultimate Dark Shadows, like Dark Shadows, *is* addictive, though. So, we have hope. All I need is five goodies from people per episode. I have listeners in the hundreds. Five people speaking per episode isn’t too much to ask, right?